Armed Robber Prays to God After Employee Locks Him in the Store

A man who was attempting to rob a Houston cellphone store at gunpoint ran out of options when an employee locked him inside. He couldn’t even shoot his way out, so he decided to ask God for help. God must have been busy, because the would-be thief’s prayers went unanswered.

In fact, he was arrested and ultimately given five years in prison, according to ABC News.

John Bell tried to rob Latino Cellular, but an employee at the store refused to open the register and walked out along with the customers — and then locked the door, trapping Bell inside, the video shows.

Store employee Katrina Leon kept a cool head when Bell ordered her to open the cash register and calmly told him, “No,” the video shows.

“As soon as he entered and he just pointed the gun at me, and I knew instantly I’m getting robbed again, but this time I didn’t open the cash register,” Leon told ABC News. “I just locked him in, because when you lock the door outside, from the inside you can’t open it, so I knew he wasn’t going to be able to open it.”

But Bell didn’t give up. Like any good believer, he knew persistence was key, which is why he pointed his gun at the door and began shooting… to no avail.

The windows and door had bars on them, essentially caging Bell with no means of egress. Bell attempted to get out by pumping four shots at the door’s lock, which withstood the barrage.

When shooting the door didn’t work, Bell resorted to the last card in any believer’s deck: a Hail Mary. He fell to his knees and prayed to God to help him escape.

After slamming himself against the door in an apparent attempt to force it open, Bell resorted to prayer in the hope of getting away, Houston police said Wednesday on their YouTube channel.

We don’t know for sure if he’s a Christian. But anyone could have told him those prayers weren’t going to do him any good, since God (a) doesn’t exist and (b) presumably disapproves of stealing if He’s around. You’d think a believer would at least understand that latter bit.